Governor Pat McCrory Challenges Election Results



Governor Pat McCrory has continued to challenge voter results in North Carolina in a bid to prevent his challenger, state Attorney General Roy Cooper, from winning the election. The race is considered too close to call currently, but Cooper has held a steady and growing lead over McCrory.

McCrory can call for a statewide recount if the difference is below 10,000 votes and Cooper currently leads by around 7,000. McCrory’s strategy until then, however, is to challenge votes and dismiss votes by proving voter fraud.

One major question was over how to count votes by people who had claimed to have registered at Department of Motor Vehicles offices. A federal judge said that the votes must be counted unless there is written evidence that the people did not want to register. 

McCrory has challenged the results in over half the countries, but some of his challenges have been dismissed. Several have been dismissed unanimously by the county board of elections which include Republicans. McCrory did find success in challenging the results in Bladen County and the state board voted to take full jurisdiction over the matter. The campaign is alleging that ballots were unlawfully cast, primarily mail-in ballots.

The governor has also accused African-American voter outreach groups of breaking election law. The groups are the subject of several ballot challenges by McCrory and his team. At issue is how volunteers did not sign the disclosure when helping others fill out the ballot.

Also at play is a state law allowing the legislature to pick the winner of an election where there are serious concerns. The legislature is Republican-controlled and would be expected to pick Governor McCrory.

House Speaker Tim Moore dodged the question on Tuesday when asked if the state legislature would step in. “The media has certainly covered the constitutional provision that gives the General Assembly the authority to weigh in on that, but given that the elections are not finalized at this point, I think further comment would be premature.”


About Tyler

Tyler is the chief media reporter for TKNN, with the news organization since its founding in November of 2010. He has previously served as chief political reporter and chief political anchor for TKNN.

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